The world plunges into darkness as millions switch off for climate change

By Nick Galvin

March 29, 2010 — 3.00am

ORGANISERS of Earth Hour are claiming that this year's event has been the most successful yet, with 126 countries and more than 4000 cities and towns taking part in the global protest.

The event started on Saturday at 5.45pm Sydney time with the lights going out in the tiny Chatham Islands, 800 kilometres off the coast of New Zealand, before taking just over 24 hours to travel around the globe.

Landmarks, including Beijing's Forbidden City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Sydney Opera House, were briefly plunged into symbolic darkness at 8.30pm local time, while many individuals gathered for candlelit Earth Hour parties.

The Earth Hour executive director, Andy Ridley, said it was not possible to put a figure on worldwide participation but it would be in the "hundreds of millions".

"It has been much bigger than we thought," he said. "It's just massive. The trend without doubt is going in one direction - people are really concerned about the issue."

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But there are signs Earth Hour may be losing some of its momentum in Australia - where it originated four years ago - with just 41 per cent of Australian adults in capital cities saying they took part in the lights-out protest, according to a poll by AMR Interactive. That figure is down from 58 per cent in 2008 and 47 per cent last year.

Greg Bourne, the chief executive of WWF Australia, one of the originators of the idea, denied the Australian figures were disappointing: "Forty per cent participation across Australia is still a credible show of support."

A spokeswoman for Energy Australia said power usage in Sydney's CBD fell by about 6 per cent between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday, compared with 9 per cent last year.

But Mr Bourne said that was a sign the Earth Hour message was working. "In the first year, where everything was [lit up] before the switch was flicked, there was a big change visible. This year there was a lot less change primarily because there is a lot less energy being wasted in Sydney."

Earth Hour also generated a lot of activity on Twitter, maintaining a position in the top 10 "trending topics" for most of the 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, South Australian Liberal senator and climate change sceptic Cory Bernardi was promoting "Human Achievement Hour", a campaign that urges people to keep their lights on rather than be "stuck in the dark with the communists".

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On his Facebook page Senator Bernardi claimed his event was well supported.

"Human Achievement Hour was a great success with many more people choosing to enjoy life as usual," he wrote.